Sri Lankan cricket official arrested over $5.5m fraud
Nandika Dissanayake has been arrested over a fraud involving the sale of television rights for the ongoing England tour of the island.
Sri Lanka Cricket's (SLC) chief financial officer, Wimal Nandika Dissanyake, was arrested on Monday by the country's Criminal Investigation Department on charges of financial fraud, the Colombo Gazzette reported.
Prior to the arrest, SLC had asked police to investigate an alleged attempt to transfer 5.5 million US dollars to an offshore account linked to the broadcasting rights of the ongoing England tour of the island.
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said the chief financial officer had already siphoned 183,000 dollars due to SLC from Sony TV for the television rights of the recently concluded tour of South Africa.
"We will take the suspect before a magistrate tomorrow and carry out further investigations," Gunasekera said.
SLC is currently auditing Dissanyake's accounts following the discovery of the fraud.
England tour of Sri Lanka
The England tour of Sri Lanka will continue until 27 November.
Currently, the Europeans lead 3-0 in a five-game ODI series, with the fifth match due to be played tomorrow (the first encounter ended in a draw).